Majodina issues warning to 'water mafia'

JOHANNESBURG - Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has issued a warning to the so-called water mafia who are vandalising infrastructure.

She says law enforcement will crack down on those who sabotage pipelines to benefit from water tanker contracts. 

Majodina was speaking at the official launch of the completed 12-phase water supply project in Tulbagh, Western Cape, worth at least R113 million.

The project - a private-public partnership - is set to supply over 1.2 million cubic meters of water to at least 10 000 households in the drought-prone area.

Majodina said that while the region has abundant water from mountain snowmelt, storage has been a longstanding challenge.

After the department identified a suitable site in 2007, authorities purchased a farm and constructed a dam as part of a multi-phase project.

The new system aims to alleviate water shortages that have delayed housing projects and strained the rapidly growing community.

Majodina also raised concerns over increasing vandalism of water infrastructure, allegedly by groups seeking to force municipalities to rely on private water tankers.

"The non-revenue water is our challenge throughout the country. Gone are the days where water was reticulated and provided to our people. You meet water at the wrong places, water running down the street. And we agreed that in the first three months we must disconnect the illegal connections, deal with the water tinkering because our people want water, they want reliable water. And ours is water security," said Majodina 

Resident will have access to the clean running water from Saturday.